Casting Net: Michael Pitt to play Hollywood legend's husband. Plus: Brie Larson, Thomas Ian Nicholas

• Boardwalk Empire‘s Michael Pitt has joined The First, a biopic about the trailblazing silent film actress Mary Pickford (Lily Rabe). Pitt will play Pickford’s first husband, Owen Moore, who had a tumultuous relationship with Pickford before she took up with, and eventually married, actor Douglas Fairbanks. Jennifer DeLia (Billy Bates) is directing. [Deadline]

• Brie Larson (21 Jump Street) will headline Short Term 12, an indie about a woman who grapples with working at a home for foster children. Writer-director Destin Cretton (I Am Not a Hipster) adapted the film from his 2008 short film of the same name. [Deadline]

• Thomas Ian Nicholas (American Reunion) will star in and produce the horror-based drama The Lost Tree, about a man who moves to a remote cabin to reboot his life after a tragedy. Brian A. Metcalf (Fading of the Cries) is directing from his script. [Variety]

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